Doorbells Once Rung
by thesillymillipede
Summary: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson like their life, the adventures and the boring bits. Irene Adler is fed up with hers, when Miss Adler is saddled with a small child she takes it apon herself to find the child some parents. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were the top of her list. DEATH AND DEDUCTION TRILOGY: Part One
1. Chapter 1

Doorbells Once Rung: DEATH AND DEDUCTION TRILOGY  
By THESILLYMILLIPEDE

**Chapter One: The Doorstep Discovery**

The doorbell never rings. Sherlock always manages to reach the door before it does.  
It was a amazingly ordinary day in 221B Baker Street, John was having a brilliant day, Sherlock was having strop and decided to give everyone the silent treatment. However when the harsh ting of the hardly used doorbell echoed up the stairs both of them pricked up their heads like the ears of an alsatian. Still ignoring John, Sherlock brought himself up from the couch and ran down the stairs, he opened the door to find a small child of about two sitting cross legged on the steps in front of the bulding.  
"Hello" Sherlock said, and the child looked round with wide blue eyes.  
"John!"He shouted.  
"What is it this time Sherlock?" John shouted back, coming down the stairs.  
He saw the big blue eyes peering at him and came to stand next to Sherlock.  
"Why? Sherlock and how?" John asked.  
"I don't know" He replied, still looking at the small child who had turned back around.  
John walked out the front and knelt in front of the child.  
"Hello, do you know where you are?" John asked. The child shook her head.  
"Do you have a mum, or a dad?" Again the child shook her head.  
"Do you want to come inside?" The child nodded furiously. John took the child's hand and led her inside. He lifted her up onto the sofa where she promptly nuzzled into a cushion and fell asleep.

"Her name is Olivia, daughter of Brian and Amelia Lucas, Brian was famous NASA scientist and lived with his wife in Americas until Amelia fell pregnant thye travelled back to their native London, both parents died in a car crash on their way to Norwich. Olivia was then given into care, to Amelia's sister Irene, Adler."Mycroft stated as breezed through the door.  
"She's Irene Adler's neice?" John stated incredulously.  
"Yes, it appears so. Where is my brother?" Myrcoft enquired.  
"Ms. Adler must be travelling back to New Jersey soon, that's why she left it here"Sherlock said as he threw himself onto his sofa.  
"Sherlock, you can't refer to her as 'it' she is a real person!" John scolded.  
"Mycroft, why would Ms. Adler leave us with a child?" Sherlock asked.  
"Maybe she thought you needed some responsibility knocked into you"  
"Enough with the jokes Mycroft what we do?"  
"You take care of her, there is nothing we can do?"  
"Nothing?"  
"Nothing, if it was Miss Adler who left the child then you are obliged to take care of it."

Mycroft left, slamming the door behind him. Olivia sat up with drowsy eyes and ruffled hair,  
"Are you my dad?"She asked.

Sherlock and John looked at each other, by mutual decision they ignored the questions and brought Olivia some very rare milk.

For the whole of the day nobody really did anything, John read his papers, Sherlock sat in his chair and watched Olivia, Olivia slept.  
"Sherlock, why are are you watching her?"John asked.  
"I'm deducing."He replied.  
"Ah no, you can't deduce a two year old child."  
"Two and half"  
"Okay, how did you work that one out then?"  
"Simple. Her teeth"  
"Right, of course"  
"She's very small for a two year old though"  
"I'm sure she's perfectly healthy"  
"You can never be too sure, I had a case once where..."  
"Why are you so concerned all of a sudden?"  
"No reason."  
"Sure Sherlock!"  
"Why is she not ginger?"Sherlock muttered to himself.  
"What? Ginger?"  
"Well she has two ginger grandparents and the gene is recessecive which means she should be ginger."  
"You can't predict someone's genetics"  
"You can, I knew what my cousin would look like before he was even thought of!"

A stream of last minute sunlight bathed the room in a orange glow before the sun eventually disappeared behind the tall buildings of the London skyline. John grabbed a blanket from a nearby cupboard and lay it gently over Olivia.  
"No disturbing her, Sherlock!" John warned before proceding to go up to his own bedroom. Sherlock looked over the flat before walking out the door,  
"Goodnight Olivia." He whispered as he closed the lounge door.


	2. Chapter 2

"Olivia, darling"Mrs Hudson cooed. "How did she get here?"  
"Ms. Adler delievered here"Sherlock answered. He had relented and called Mrs Hudson up to help him.  
"What are going to do with cases because I can't look after her all the time!"She said.  
"What about today?"Sherlock asked.  
"Sorry love but I've got a lunch with Mrs Turner in 10 minutes"  
"But Lestrade called with a case!"Sherlock whined.  
"Don't leave me."Olivia murmured.  
"Course not darling Sherlock is here to look after you!" Mrs. Hudson reassured.  
Sherlock text alert beeped loudly,  
"That'll be Lestrade!"Sherlock said. "Fine I'll take her! John we have a case!"  
Sherlock picked Olivia up and held her on his hip. John walked into the hallway with his cup of tea and a folded newspaper.  
"I said we have case."  
"Is it really appropriate to bring Livvy?"John said.  
"Her name's Olivia."Sherlock replied, "And yes, it is!"  
He called for a cab and strapped Olivia in, waiting for John. They drove up to the crime scene where Inspector Lestrade was waiting for them.  
"Good, you came..."Sherlock propped Olivia back on his hip.  
"What have you done?" Lestrade asked.  
"Irene Adler gave her to me" Sherlock answered before striding past into the taped off area. Sally Donovan popped her head round one of the doors,  
"Freaks here...with a mini freak?"She said.  
"Not a mini freak, a child!" Sherlock replied angrily before plopping Olivia into Sally's bemused arms and walking off to where the men in blue suit were gathered round a body.  
"Lestrade, don't worry. Sherlock got it all under hand" John reassured.  
"Who in their right mind would give Sherlock a small child?"Lestrade wondered.  
"Irene Adler."  
"You don't think it's actually his!"Lestrade said with a horrified expression.  
"No, no, no! It's Irene's niece, her parent's died in a car crash" John explained.  
"Poor girl. What's her name?"  
"Olivia."  
"Nice name"Lestrade replied before trailing off "Probably shouldn't leave Sherlock alone with a toddler and a murder victim though"  
John and Lestrade rushed into the building, John got the surprise of seeing Olivia and Sergant Donovan sat on the floor playing together.  
"Sir!" Sally stood up, still holding Olivia's hand but still adressing Lestrade.  
Sally picked Olivia up and handed her back to John,  
"Seems your daughter isn't as much of a freak as your husband!" She stated.  
"Me and Sherlock aren't married or together!"John shouted after Sally as she went of the investgate the crime scene.  
"You've sorta got to expect it mate, you do have a kid and live with a man."Lestrade reasoned.  
"Oh God!" John muttered to himself before continuing down the hallway.

_**2 and a half years later**_  
"What school should we send her to?"John asked. Sherlock looked up, bouncing Olivia on his knee.  
"That won't be necessary boys."A tall, polished, proffessional lady breezed into the room, she had perfectly coiffed hair that matched Olivia's in shade.  
"Irene Adler, don't remember it, you won't be seeing me again."  
"Sherlock Holmes-"  
"Consulting Detective"Irene finished.  
"The one and only!"John rolled his eyes sarcastically.  
"And you must be John Watson."Irene moved in for the handshake. John ignored it,  
"What do you want Ms. Adler?"John asked.  
"Olivia."  
"What"John said rather aggressively and Sherlock pulled Olivia into his lap.  
"I would like to take Olivia?"Irene said innocently.  
"You can't do that."John said.  
"She's a Holmes now, we have certificates to prove it."Sherlock replied defensively.  
"I'm still her legal guardian."Irene said.  
"Not unless we registered Olivia's parents as her legal parents."Sherlock countered.  
"But you did, so I'm still the closest relative."Irene said. "Can I please have her?"  
"Why now?"John asked.  
"Because I need her, I promised my sister I would look after her and it was a mistake giving her to you."  
"It's been 2 and a half years."  
"I was in New Jersey. Can we just get this over and done with?"  
"Or what?"Sherlock asked.  
"Or I'll have to have her back _forcibly_."Irene replied.  
"Give me a minute alone with Olivia."Sherlock said absent-mindedly.  
"You're not gonna let her go, are you Sherlock?"John worridly asked.  
Sherlock stood to his full height and propped Olivia on his hip and strode into Olivia's makeshift bedroom, which was, infact, a small study that Sherlock had been hoarding his rubbish in. Olivia jumped onto the bed and looked at Sherlock with wide-eyes as he pulled her clothes from the old antique bedside table that was being used as a chest of drawers. He folded them neatly into a small rugged leather suitcase that had appeared from under her bed.  
"Olivia?"Olivia looked up at Sherlock, "You remember us, don't let Irene boss you around, you fight because me and John are coming to get you."

_**7 years later  
**_Seven years later they still hadn't come to get Olivia, she took that to heart. She never forget them and always fought but most importantly she kept her promise but they hadn't kept their's. So infact, Olivia was still in Irene's posh flat in the most expensive part of London. The flat was large and white, quite inappropriate for a child. The faint brown smudges near the skirting boards were the only evidence that a child lived in the house. If you went up the winding wooden stairs, you would come to a long hallway which if you turned to the alcove three doors up on the left, you could either choose to walk into a cupboard or open the red door. Assuming you opened the red door because it is naturally more exciting than the black door of the cupboard, there would be a large room. A futon bed is pushed up against a window with large blue curtains, the milions of books are piled randomly around the room along with hapazardly chucked clothes and knick-knacks. The only picture you'll find in the room is next to the bed, it is of a young boy and girl with matching dark hair laughing at a book. If you leave that room and proceed futher down the hallway there is a large, grand black door with a shining silver doorknob. Only the most daring of people venture in there, if you do you;ll probably find a large four poster bed and a ornate bedside table. Walking further into the room you'll notice a a sliding door, slide that back and you will probably find a girl of about 11 with long curly dark hair and alabaster skin playing dress ups with boy who looks exactly same.  
"Oli, do we have to play dress ups again?"The boy asked.  
"Well, we aren't allowed out of the house."Olivia replied.  
"Since when did you follow the rules?"asked the boy.  
"Now that you mention it, I do have a plan."Olivia smiled cheekily.  
When they stood up to quickly leave the extravagant room, you notice they were quite tall children but also quite thin and uncoordinated as shown by the amount of tripping it took for them to get through the doorframe.  
Pulling a piece of teared paper from underneath a book in the red door room they looked intently at the supposed plan.  
"Do you even know where they live?"The boy asked.  
"No Alex, I don't but I will know when I see it."Olivia replied.  
"Very good, so Irene is out for lunch with Kate,"  
"Yeah, no opening the front door, we don't want anymore policemen."  
"The laundry shaft?"Alexquestioned as he read further down the paper.  
"A quick and easy slide down!" Olivia confirmed.  
"How did I not think of that!?"Alex wondered.  
"That's why I'm the brains and you're the beauty."  
"What about my combustible sofa?"Alex stated egotiscally.  
"It wouldn't have worked without my formula."  
"I had to read you the chemistry textbook though."  
"Not my fault I'm dyslexic."  
"But I have dyscalculia!"Alex protested.  
"No, you just don't like maths."Olivia smirked. "Can we get a move on?"  
"Of course, ladies first."Alex said opening the laundry hatch on the other side of the room.  
"Then I must insist."Olivia giggled, taking the handle from Alex. He made no fuss and climbed into the chute, he crossed his arms over his chest and pushed himself down.  
Olivia wiggled into the tube and waited till she heard a loud outcry of obscenities from Alex before going down herself.  
Olivia shot out the end of the chute, past Alex and then stumbling into a bin.  
"That was wicked!"Alex cried, jumping around.  
"Oh my god, we did it!"Olivia jumped around into Alex arms where they flailed for a bit having finally made it out of the building.  
"We should probably run."Alex suggested.  
"Good thing I'm wearing my running shoes."She and Alex tapped the heels of their matching red converse together before running aross the road.  
Darting down an alleyway they looked bak over the illustrious house they had just escaped.  
"Nobody seems to have noticed we've gone."Alex remarked.  
"Yet,"  
"Arent't you just the optimist?"Alex replied sarcastically.  
"Shut up Al!"Olivia grabbed Alex's hnd and pulled him down the street.  
Alternating between walking and running wasn't really conserving any energy but they seemed to have made it a considerable distance.  
Alex pulled Olivia low against a concrete building as a sleek black sedan drove past,  
"Oli, it's one of Irene's cars."Olivia buttoned up her jacket and sweeped her hair into a ponytail. Alex rolled the turnups down on his jeans and Olivia ruffled his hair to the side. They weren't very good disguises but better than nothing. They walked discreetly along the street and few more black cars were speeding up the street, Alex pulled Olivia's hand forward gesturing for her to run but she just stood in awe of the building in front of her.  
"Oli, come on!"Alex shouted.  
"Al, its here. This is the house!"She cried. The cars in the street were blocked up and luckily the black vehicles were still someway behind. Alex pulled Olivia into the cafe next door. It was called 'Speedy's' that sat down in one of the booths in the back, anxiously they peered around looking for a way out. A man in a black suit with balding hair and smart shoes opened the door and sat down. A plan formed inside Olivia's head, she walked Alex and her towards the front of the shop, the suited man lunged for them. Olivia pushed Alex through the counter before following herself and dragging them through an open storeroom door. Still hearing the chaos in the actual cafe, they rushed up a staircase immeadiately to their left. Alex, running as fast as he could, swore loudly as his head it the top of the ceiling.  
"Move!"Olivia whispered. She took Alex's place and began pounding the ceiling, eventually a slab of wood popped up. Olivia placed her foot on Alex's knee and jumped expertly into the small room. She looked around before holding out her hands and pulling Alex up, the bottom of his trainers just brushed the suited man's hand as he found the children. Alex grabbed the slab and hit the man over the head before replacing it.  
"Nice work Al!"  
"I try my hardest,"He smirked. That smirk was wiped off his face when a man in a large fluffy jumper came bounding into the room.  
"What the bloody hell are you doing in here?"He shouted.  
Alex and Olivia exchanged glances before falling over in fits of laughter.  
"Like this flat isn't mad enough!?"He muttered before closing the door on the giggling children.


	3. Chapter 3

"They were suprisingly non-chalant about having 2 laughing children in their house which they had seemed to enter via a loose floorboard."Alex noted, hauling himself of the small rickety bed he had collapsed on minutes ago.  
"Does that label us as a sqautters?"I asked.  
"Maybe, we should go introduce ourselves to the owners of our house?"Alex suggested. We pushed open the wooden door to see the man with the fluffy jumper reading a newspaper and another man wth dark curly hair and a very angular pale face studying something through a microscope.  
I curtsied extravagantly,  
"The name is Oli Holmes, pleasure to make your aquaintance."  
"We know our rights, do not try to evict us from the building." Alex added smugly.  
"Are your introducing yourselves as squatters?"The man looked up from the newspaper.  
"Technically you have no squatter's rights considering this building isn't in disuse."The microscope man retorted.  
"What about downstairs?"Olivia replied.  
"How did you know there was a downstairs?"The newspaper man asked.  
"Well judging from the amount of stairs we had to climb up to get to your 'room' I'd assume this building has more than one story, and you obviously don't all of this building because all of your stuff is kept in this one space and well no-one obviously lives in the downstairs flat because of the mould."Olivia finished  
"She does that a lot." Alex announced.  
"I know some one who has the exact same problem."The newspaper man replied turning to look suspiciously at his friend/flatmate/lover? Who was still staring down the microscope.  
"Well John, evidently she's Olivia."The man stated as if it was obvious.  
"Our Olivia?"  
"I'm no-one's Olivia!"Olivia interrupted.  
"That's Olivia for you!" Alex muttered.  
"Can everyone just stop saying Olivia!"Olivia shouted.  
"But you just said Olivia?"Alex said,  
"Not helping Al!"Olivia fired back as Alex chuckled to himself.  
"John Watson,"The newspaper man said. "And yourname was was?"  
"Olivia Holmes,"She replied hautily.  
"And you are?"The microscope man asked Alex.  
"I'm Alex, sir!"He replied.  
"No lastname?"  
"Not that I know of!"He replied and the microscope man scoffed loudly.  
"Sorry, that's Sherlock Holmes, my flatmate."John said.  
"Really?"The name piqued Olivia's interest, "I think you might remember me from seven years ago?"She asked, politely but menacingly.  
"Well, of course I remember you _Olivia _and I am dreadfully sorry I didn't rescue you from Ms Adler's cage but you seemed to have done a fine job of it yourself."Sherlock twirled sarcastically from the end of his tongue.  
"I certainly didn't learn anything from you, and at least I don't use my friends as ego boosters!"Olivia retorted smugly.  
"I am not an ego booster."John protested.  
"Oh, but you are. What else would your purpose be? Sherlock has no friends!"  
"Oli, there's no need to be mean."Alex said, walking over to her.  
"It's not mean if its true!"Olivia retorted.  
"The truth always hurts and that's because its true."Alex said, trying to calm Olivia down.  
"You should get that put on card!"Sherlock stated sarcastically.  
"Shut up, I'm trying to help your daughter when you screwed her up!"Alex shouted.  
Olivia walked out into the darkness when Alex lost it.  
"And now where's she gone!"Alex asked walking out the door.  
John followed him outside.  
"Son, just leave it she's not gonna go back to Irene's, she'll be back eventually."John said comfortingly, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
John led Alex up the stairs.  
Sherlock was still sitting in the exact same position but was now holding a book on Physics. John was making tea in the kitchen and Alex had sat down on the window sill and hid behind a curtain so he couldn't see John and Sherlock.  
John passed him a cup of tea in a worringly stained mug.  
"Don't worry about those."He said, looking at the stains. "They're not toxic, anymore."He muttered, walking away.  
Alex put the tea cup on the window sill and pushed open the rattling window. He flung his feet out over the edge but in doing so knocked the cup of tea out the window, he looked dow worringly as he heard the faint smash. A dark figure looked up angrily, her pale skin, dark hair and striking blue eyes could be recognised from a mile away. Alex rushed down the stairs and bounded out into the cold night. He tightened his coat around him and pushed up the collar to keep out the cold air.  
"Olivia, you shouldn't be sitting on the street."He said in a motherly tone.  
"What's the worst that could happen?"She challenged.  
"You could get raped?"Alex replied. Olivia face softened,  
"You say that as if it's a bad thing?"She cracked a smile, showing her white teeth which were reflected by the moonlight. Alex offered hand and pulled her up. He wrapped his arms around her,  
"That's the Olivia I know!"He sung happily.  
"The dreadfully sarcastic and innapropriate one?"  
"God knows what we'd do without her!"Alex cried as he pushed her through the door.  
"We're not going upstairs."Olivia said. Alex didn't argue but instead lay down on the floor with his head resting on the first stair.  
"Goodnight then."He closed his eyes and _appeared_ to go to sleep.  
Olivia was shocked by his compliancy but soon lay down next him and went to sleep.  
It wasn't long before John came down to look for the two children. He saw them resting peacefully,  
"Sherlock!"He hissed. Sherlock popped his head round the corner.  
"Help me carry them to the bed!"John commanded.  
"Where are they going to sleep?"Sherlock asked.  
"On the sofa!"John replied.  
"My sofa?"Sherlock retorted.  
"Then they can sleep in your bed and you can sleep on _your _sofa!"John said.  
"They can't sleep in the same bed!"Sherlock cried.  
"Shhh! I don't think it matters Sherlock they're 11."John reasoned.  
"The boy looks shifty!"  
"That's not one of your best deductions!"John replied sarcastically. John scooped Alex into his arms and looked to pass him over to Sherlock. Sherlock shook his head furiously. "Then go pick up Olivia!"He said walking up the stairs and pushing the door open. He let Sherlock through and he lay Olivia down on the sofa.  
"Where's he going then?"John cocked his head in Alex's direction.  
"On the floor?"Sherlock replied non-chalantly as he walked into his own room.  
"Thanks."John muttered. He grabbed a blanket and threw it over Alex, who had put on the floor next to the sofa.  
When John woke up in the morning Olivia and Alex were tops and tails on the sofa. Their blankets cocooned around them.  
John snuck back into his room with his cup of tea, hoping not to disturb them.  
Olivia woke, she stretched her arms and practically knocked Alex off the sofa,  
"Thanks!"He muttered groggily.  
"Sorry, I forgot you were here too."  
"Even better!"He retorted.  
A faint knocking sound could be heard, Olivia jumped out onto the floor and ran down the stairs. She pulled the door open and saw Irene looking up, still talking on the phone.  
"Sherlock darling, have you seen..."She trailed off as she looked down, seeing Olivia.  
"Can I come in?"Irene asked.  
"Sure,"Olivia shut the door behind her.  
They perched on the sofa and opened their mouths to talk when Sherlock came striding through.  
"What's she doing here?"Sherlock asked with distaste.  
"I invited her in, I think she wanted to see if you knew anything about our disappearance."Olivia explained.  
"Yes, exactly. My men were greatly annoyed when you managed to evade them!"Irene replied.  
"Well your men can't have been that good!"Sherlock muttered.  
"What?"Irene asked.  
"They were beaten by two eleven year old children."Sherlock said.  
"Our collective age is 22!"Alex informed everyone.  
"Our combined IQ is probably higher than both of yours!"Olivia


End file.
